The synthesis of virus coat protein in plants leads to an enhanced resistance of the plant to the corresponding virus. European Patent Application 0 240 331, for example, describes the preparation of plant cells which contain such a coat protein.
Tumer et al. [EMBO J. 6, 1181 (1987)] have carried out the transformation of tobacco and tomato plants with a chimeric gene which codes for the coat protein of alfalfa mosaic virus. The progeny of these is transformed plants which showed a significant reduction in the signs of infection with the corresponding virus, and in some cases even virus resistance.